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Meet the CSO: Maria Montoya

October 05, 2017

Maria is the Manager of School and Community Partnerships for our
office. She joined our team in August and is excited about creating
new opportunities for community development, school and parent support
and partnerships in Detroit.

A graduate of communications from the University of Florida, Maria
spent the first part of her career as a journalist covering everything
from celebrities to the toy beat for USA Today, and later children and
families for the Times-Picayune in New Orleans. While working as a
reporter following the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina,
Maria covered schools and school leaders working to rebuild the city’s
education systems. It was in her role as an advocate for her own
children that Maria become involved in a parent group seeking to
create more efficient and fairer enrollment practices.

As a leading parent voice, Maria became involved in creating OneApp,
the first citywide enrollment process in New Orleans. Fueled by her
passion to serve the community and use her communication skills, Maria
also oversaw the day-to-day operations of three family resource
centers where families could learn about their enrollment options and
seek support if they ran into enrollment barriers. As the Director of
Enrollment at the Recovery School District and Communications and
Policy Director for Agenda for Children, Maria created partnerships
with local libraries, health care officials, housing authorities,
local universities, and city officials to increase access to
actionable information for students and the service
providers assisting families with enrollment issues.

In 2016, Maria moved to Michigan to lead Enroll Detroit, a program
created by Excellent Schools Detroit (ESD) to help eliminate
enrollment barriers for students from birth to college. In her time
with ESD, Maria and her outreach staff where able to work closely with
the students and families displaced due to local school closures. By
creating enrollment events, communications assets easily
understandable and accessible to families, and training service
providers, Maria and her outreach staff connected with hundreds of families.

When she’s not working on planning community events or directly
supporting schools or families, Maria is a huge foodie with a passion
for cooking and collecting cookbooks. She and her family live in the
Grandmont/Rosedale area with their 8-year-old boys and 10-month-old
daughter, and she is a part of a local co-op currently in the launch
phase of opening a pop-up bookstore in Hamtramck. Additionally, Maria
serves on several Detroit Head Start advisory groups as a community
rep, as a board member of a local non-profit, and on the board of a
New Orleans student advocacy organization.

What fuels your education passions?

Seeing a child’s eyes light up when they feel excited about
learning is what drives me. Too often, I have seen children who
haven’t found the school that meets their needs lose that light, and
that’s just heartbreaking. I feel like it’s our responsibility to
help every child have the best educational experience possible, and,
as communities, work together to ensure all of the supports that are
needed to make all children successful are in place. Education was
everything to me growing up, and I know that the experience I had
and the successes I experienced are directly linked to the adults
who made sure I had the tools I needed to achieve.

What is one piece of advice related to community engagement
you would give to educators?

Authentic engagement isn’t easy, but the rewards and benefits that
come from committing to do the work are truly transformative. Parent
and student engagement isn’t about one-time events or handing out
flyers that explain engagement. True and deep
relationship-building engagement that is meaningful to students,
families, and communities is at times incredibly tough because it
involves having tough conversations – and working collaboratively to
create solutions.

Do you have a memorable teacher? Why is that person memorable
to you?

Hands down my journalism and English teacher, Marge Craig Barber.
Throughout my life I didn’t have a lot of stability outside of
school, but Marge was my constant every day. She checked in with me
and made sure I stayed on-top of school, forced hugs on me when she
could tell I needed it, and cracked the whip when she thought I
wasn’t working hard enough. Still to this day, Marge writes me and
my children, and just when I am being too hard on myself or having a
rough day a note from her will show up and turn things around.

What is one book you would recommend to parents and/or educators?

I cannot even recall how many times I have gifted, “Hope Against
Hope” by Sarah Carr and “Promises Kept: Raising Black Boys to
Succeed in School and in Life” by Dr. Joe Brewster and Michele
Stephenson. Both books document the experiences of children and
families living in today’s very complex educational landscape, and
offer truly insightful views of how lives are impacted by our
current processes, systems and policies.